Category: Stuff

Fab Finds, Life

Baby on the Brain

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So  its official, J and I are a TTC couple. Its funny, I was so excited for my business trip this month and it turns out those are my fertile days. J says I’m too goal oriented, I just need to go with the ” it will happen when it happens ” flow but I don’t know if I’m cut out for it. J definitely is much more relaxed and easy going about this. I just want to get the show on the road and move on the the next stage. I’m really impatient and I usually prefer action to discussion and to me TTC is the discussion and I’ve had enough discussion, just give me the baby already. In fact, I think I’m willing to skip that pesky nine month pregnancy stage too.  Alas! It is not to be. 

Life rolls on pretty smoothly for the most part other than that.  J and I have told a few close friends and my parents that we are trying and almost everyone has been super receptive and excited for us. 

Random thought: I found this awesome website called Endless.com that sells shoes and they do free overnight delivery. Yippeee for internet shopping.

Stuff, Vintage Books

Vintage Harlequin Romances- Finds for September

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I fell in love(pun, ha ha) with Harlequin/Mills and Boon covers when I discovered my mom’s old books from the 1970s. Since then I have a very strict time period for which I collect 1980 or earlier and I usually only focus on a few authors because they make for an entertaining read every now and then.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of the typical romance genre, in fact I don’t think I have read any contemporary Harlequin romances, what I love like my passion for other vintage books is the language, and settings. I like really convuluted sexist (I know, I know shame on me as a feminist and I am a feminist) plots and I love that the heroines aren’t imagined, or spunkier or different from their times, which I think is the case with a lot of historical fiction. The vintage books actually have a more accurate representation of that current society. I love reading especially the books from the 1960’s and 1970’s where you see the conflict between traditional women’s roles and the new modern roles and of course its a fantasy, so there is always a happy ending and the woman gets both.

As for the covers, I love the old school illustrations, in fact the style of the first one is actually my favorite, its so pulpy and awesome and I wish I had a better vocabulary to describe it.  I’ll try to do a monthly post about my collections. Its going to be harder and I have to be more selective because my local thrift store has raised prices for old paperbacks from $.25 to $1.99

Life, School, Stuff

Photoshop and the Girl!

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So now that my work schedule has settled down nicely into a routine, I decided to sign up for an evening class that I can take just for fun. Also, I’m lucky enough to get financial aid this semester, so I don’t even have to pay for it.

I know some basic things in photoshop but it is an application that I have wanted to learn for a really long time and now I can finally become a photoshop pro. I am really excited because the they want us to use our own projects for our assignments etc. which means that I will be working a lot on some of my favorite photos from India and I can finally get them cleaned up and looking great. So watch this space because I plan on posting my before and afters 🙂

Life, Stuff

Talisman

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Some people wear Grace, others Love, or Family, or Hope, and some nothing at all or something completely random. But most people have a word or an affirmation that they like to keep close to them, to maybe remind them what is important in their lives.

One birthday a good decade or so ago I got a tiny black bracelet with a little silver bead that said “courage on it. I don’t think it was given to me as a charm , it merely matched the necklace and earrings I also got with it. But over the years, that bracelet became not only a talisman, but sometimes even a lifeline. I didn’t start wearing it with special meaning either, it just always seemed to be the right “accessory” until I realized I always accesorized with that bracelet when I most needed courage. It has seen me through insignificant crisises like going to a party where I felt out of place, or anxious because I didn’t know anyone to a cross country move, and even transitioning from a singleton to a newlywed, that bracelet has given me exactly what it says on it- Courage.

It seems weird that I place so much importance on a few beads strung together but it is my private talisman and it reminds me what I value most in life, of how I want to live my life – I want to be fearless, I want a fearless life.

In 2007 a musician and a poet that I admire , Patti Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Zach De la Rocha of Rage against the Machine introduced her with the following words –

” Patti once said, ‘I stand in front of a microphone, and I’m not afraid,’ and she remains just that, fearless. Fearless throughout her losses, fearless as a mother, fearless when she put the Bush administration up on the firing line for this illegal war and pulled her poetic trigger. Fearless in prose, and fearless in life…”

This inspired me so much and maybe thats why I cling to my little talisman because maybe I won’t be fearless in prose, but I can be fearless in life and everything it offers. Sadly my little talisman is dying, the elastic is stretched out to the limit, the bracelet barely stays on my wrist and I haven’t seen another one like it anywhere. However I did a little charm hanging from black cord (pic above) that can be worn as a necklace, so maybe its time to wear a new version of my talisman.

Food and Drinks, Stuff

Weekend Project- Herb Garden in a pot

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I have never had a green thumb, in fact other than an odd aunt here and there, no one in my family is gardening oriented at all. My mom was never a gardener and my dad didn’t even mow our lawn, we always had someone else do it! J always screams at this info in horror with “Oh my God, how UnAmerican.” Unamerican but true!

I married a non green thumber as well, J and I are just not good around plants, we really can’t even manage to keep house plants alive. This is really not an exaggeration, my mother will testify about the number of her prized potted plants that have met an early death, just because I was house sitting.

But all that is going to change, this weekend, I am going turn a new leaf ( snort* ha ha…get it) and start my own herb garden. This is something I have been meaning to do for a while and I am going to start this sunday with my very favorite herb- Cilantro and if all goes well, by the end of the summer, I might have Basil, Dill and Parsley as well…but I’m getting to ahead of myself.

I found this method here that I am going to try , so lets hope this works!

Stuff

Sim-O-Phile

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I can’t believe that here I am doing a blog post about Sims2 . I was a huge fan of Sims 1 and played it actively for a year or so and then since I didn’t own a copy of the game, my simming fell to the way side.  Earlier last month, I was reliving my geeky days of Sims absorption and J suggested I get a copy of the game. Sims has come a long way from what it was in the 90s. The basic game is now Sims 2 with Sims 3 being released in 2009 and of course tons of exapansion and stuff packs. Anyway Sims 2 is a fairly old game and i found a cheap copy of it at Toys R Us and of course just like last time, I’m hooked!! However Sims 2 is definitely more addictive because you the game has loads of new features. Sims 2 sims age, go through an entire life cycle, have individual aspirations and wants, and most importantly can pass on genes and traits to their off spring. Of course there is fun building tools as well which include, modern and historic styles. Sims can now also go through adolscence, childhood, and toddler hood, they can have weddings, go to community centers, dates, drive and loads of other stuff. My favorite aspect of Sims 2 is that you can create entire neighborhoods and characters from different time periods and have their kids and grand kids and descendants in more modern times. So you can play an entire family through generations!

This weekend, instead of playing my usual game,  I was wasting time browsing for user created objects and found some blogs of Sims 2 players who blog the adventures of their Sim Families and often play challenges like legacies and create really neat neighborhoods from using Sim City templates. I have been inspired and I’ve been pondering creating a Sims 2 page/blog, but it probably won’t be for a while. I also can’t wait to get my hands on some of the expansion packs especially University Life.

I guess thats enough Sim talk from me!

Stuff

Sex and the City Movie

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I’m so excited that the Sex and the City movie is coming out this summer, I was just talking to a friend and I might drive 8 hours to Nashville just to see it with my friend! I know, I know  girls are weird! It won’t be the same even if I can drag J to go with me

 Here is the leaked  trailer